Reflections of Darkness - Music Magazine - Out of Line Festival

Details: Written by: Ilona B.; Published: 29 November 2007

K17, Berlin, Germany
11th November 2007
Out of Line Festival: Hocico, Spetsnaz, Proceed, Din[A]Tod, Ashbury Heights

The independent EBM/Industrial label Out of Line proudly presented its highlights this evening, on the 4th date of the Out of Line Festival tour. New hot acts as well as established stars were featured in the line-up, with HOCICO being the absolute top act of the evening. Musically, the line-up was very varied, from soft melodic EBM to rough industrial. Unfortunately, the quality of the shows was just as varied. The festival featured surprises as well as real disappointments, of which I can only hope or even expect to be better on CD. Too bad, for those bands could really have benefited from this festival fuelled by HOCICO. And that is no understatement; the K17 was completely full on a Sunday evening, and no other EBM / Industrial band but HOCICO can pull that off.

Ashbury Heights

Since ASHBURY HEIGHTS was the second band featuring in the festival line-up it was surprising that they opened the festival. The duo ASHBURY HEIGHTS is one of the most promising new acts of the Out of Line label. Only an hour after the first hearing, ASHBURY HEIGHTS was signed at the label. Their debut album has been released on October 5th, and they are presented by Out of Line as glamorous, sexy, chic, and fantastic, as appealing to the eye as to the body with its danceable beats. http://www.ashburyheights.se/ / http://www.myspace.com/ashburyheightsmusic

Music & Performance
Unfortunately, none of these promises were fulfilled that night. Unless PVC clothing and a little bit of make-up is enough to count as glamorous in the totally un-cyber Berlin, ASHBURY HEIGHTS did not have a glimpse of glamour at all. And that, I bet, was completely due to inexperience and insecurity. Insecurity is not glamorous. It showed. There was not really a solid band concept going on, only the album cover was projected on the video screen during the entire show (which is a great and glamorous cover by the way), and they did not look like they felt very certain on stage. They constantly changed roles during the gig; one song it was Anders singing and Yasmine on the keyboards / electronics, the next song it was Yasmine singing, and so it continued. It made for a chaotic rather than dynamic set, and it didn’t add to the concentration of the brother and sister either; all songs were consequently sung off-key.

Perhaps the monitors weren’t working properly, perhaps the sound wasn’t balanced correctly; it doesn’t matter, for the melodies couldn’t be heard properly and even when they could be heard they were completely off-key. Really too bad as at some points the melodies really seemed worthwhile. The music itself was very danceable EBM indeed. ASBURY HEIGHTS tried to communicate its dance ability and its melodies to the audience by dancing on stage - that is, the singing half. Not having understood the fine art of performing (rather than just dancing) yet, they did not really succeed in getting the audience along either. But that’s no wonder when everything’s off-key and the general sound is bad. The gig was really disappointing and I really do hope it was a one-night failure, for I had expected much more after hearing the sound snaps from their debut album.

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 6
Sound: 5
Light: 7
Total: 6.4

Din [A] Tod

The Berlin-based DIN[A]TOD is a trio consisting of Sven, Claudia and Phelix, and tries to bring musical intelligence to the club dance floor. Their debut album ‘The Sound of Crash’ is a musical experiment that ranges from catchy to complicated, but always danceable. http://www.dinatod.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/dinatod

Music & Performance
To start with, there were only two people on stage instead of the expected three. No idea what happened there - perhaps the reason why DIN[A]TOD performed second instead of first? Who knows? Fact of the matter is, DIN[A]TOD could not pull off a proper show either. Starting their set with a song that was played TOO loud featuring TOO much bass and TOO much noise, it was in one word unbearable. Even with proper ear protection. Bad call! The rest of the music wasn’t that bad to my relief, but still the sound was balanced out horribly which didn’t exactly make it a pleasurable gig either. The music itself was not bad, but to say that this is musical intelligence....no. The songs were too monotonous for that. No dynamic alterations, monotonous speech singing by Sven and completely deprived of any variation; the songs themselves could hardly do good to me. At times, I found traces of a melody, but those were mostly absorbed immediately by some other kind of noise.

The good thing is that at least there was a great variation between songs, so that the set itself was not monotonous. The performance of the duo reflected the monotony of the songs themselves; they were just playing their instruments on stage. A few times, they changed roles and Claudia took the microphone. Her vive-la-fete kind of voice was very pleasurable, and definitely the better option of the two. But even though the performance skills of these two weren’t sufficient, at least the audience was provided with some eye candy in the form of the beautiful projections: prints of gorgeous wood carvings featuring mostly mythical biblical themes. Just too bad those projections don’t make the audience dance. Even though the music in itself was danceable, nobody danced, and the band themselves didn’t even seem interested. There was no single moment of interaction with the audience (unless it was so personal that no one else could see it), and the set suddenly ended with an “Ok danke, tschüss” (“Ok, thanks, bye”) from Sven, and they left the stage without even acknowledging the audience. And so it seemed that they did not even succeed to excite themselves with their own music. Boring.

Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 5
Sound: 5.5
Light: 6.5
Total 5.3

Proceed

PROCEED was founded in 1999 by André S. and Daniel P., and their 2004 debut album ‘Neusprache’ has been recently followed up by ‘Laut’. Uncompromising beats, loudness, and energy make up the centre of PROCEED’s existence in which they try to create a new type of sound by synthesizing the old and the new. http://www.proceedweb.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/proceedweb

Music & Performance
The concert of PROCEED started with a long intro featuring a beautiful video collage of various cyber-themed images, which was played throughout the show. I think. I don’t even remember correctly, for singer André S. was demanding all attention for himself. From the moment he entered the stage in his uniform jacket and short trousers, the stage and the K17 was his. Except for the corner of the stage; that piece of territory was clearly marked by live-drummer René S., who tightly hit his electric drum set (decorated with a military net) wearing a tank top, sunglasses, his muscles and his millimetered head. As can be expected with these looks, the music was very militaristic as well. Not exactly a new type of sound, but still very entertaining.

Tough industrial featuring powerful and indeed uncompromising beats in line with FEINDFLUG filled the K17 and for the first time that evening, the audience actually responded. Enthusiastically. And with this type of music, that apparently meant: moshing! André did own the stage downright, mostly screaming his German lyrics to the pumping beats, moving and running from the left to the right and back on the stage continuously, connecting to and interacting with the audience all the time. After a few songs, he took off his military jacket to reveal a white blouse and suspenders, sporting a “lederhosen look”. Halfway during the gig, technology faltered, but they solved the problem quickly and efficiently. Luckily, iPods aren’t that difficult to deal with. Altogether, PROCEED had a strong, consequent band concept that included their stage presence as well as their muscular music. The video projections added a different, dystrophic rather than militaristic edge to the show, but the show did not depend on them: the energetic front man received and deserved all attention.

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Lights: 6.5
Total: 7.6

Spetsnaz

The Swedish EBM duo SPETSNAZ is known for its intensity, screaming vocals, and hard-hitting beats. They are aggressive as well as melodic, and they were at the Out of Line Festival to promote their recent album ‘Deadpan’. http://www.myspace.com/spetsnazebm

Music & Performance
During SPETSNAZ, the mosh pit really got going. Clearly, this was an audience that came for jumping and moshing to hard-hitting beats. Drummer Stefan played an electric drum kit as well, but did not pull off half the disciplined look of the PROCEED drummer, even though he kept in the military theme as well. The drum kit itself (placed on the other side of the stage) wasn’t decorated, and neither were the men themselves. They were simple and straightforward. As was the music.

This gig featured just the album cover on the background as well, and probably the moshers couldn’t have cared less; they were enthusiastically jumping and singer Pontus was equally enthusiastically heating them up, even though the show itself was cold and sober, in which the lighting also had a fair share. SPETSNAZ was clearly having fun on stage and with the audience, but let’s just say that it’s not my kind of fun. Grabbing your crotch on stage and laughing about it for example is simply not my idea of humorous or sexy - I call that childish and empty-headed. Anyway, the music itself was not bad, and the performance in itself was pretty good as well in general. But it was nothing special, and nothing memorable. To me, it was just empty.

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7

Hocico

HOCICO is Mexico’s pride; when I was in Mexico City recently, I heard HOCICO being played all the time in all alternative places. And no wonder. This duo has made its fame worldwide with its dark electro consisting of pumping beats, provoking lyrics and a sinister atmosphere. Erk Aicrag (lyrics, vocals) and Racso Agroyam (programming) know what they are doing, and they’re doing it well. Just before the Out of Line Festival started, HOCICO released a special limited picture CD ‘The Shape of Things to Come’ to thank all their fans with. http://www.hocico.com/ / http://www.hocico.de/ / Hocico Myspace

Music & Performance
This was clearly the band everyone had waited for. No question about it. In every aspect, HOCICO were clearly standing out above the rest. The floor was completely packed. HOCICO started with a slow intro displaying images of fire with thematic quotes, and the empty stage was lit with red and orange to mimic fire, and that surprisingly worked very well. As soon as HOCICO entered the stage, the crowd went wild, the mosh pit grew bigger, and people that weren’t up for moshing quickly moved away. There was hardly any place to dance. Front man Erk was doing his job very, very well, highly aggressive, energetic, passionate, devoted, and moving on the stage all the time, screaming and connecting continuously.

While video collages of Mexican folklore and Mexico itself were projected on the background, the stage was lit darkly, but very, very well; the darkness on stage perfectly resonated with the dark sounds of HOCICO as it reflected the sinister atmosphere perfectly. Programmer Racso was in the background simply doing his thing, while Erk controlled everything that was happening on and off stage. When a fan waved a Mexican flag for too long, Erk simply took it from him, which was received by loud applause by the people who had been disturbed by it for a while. HOCICO know what their own flag looks like, thank you.

The entire concert was perfectly staged from beginning to end, and the setlist featured all the old favourites as well as new work. After the end of the concert, HOCICO came back for a single-song encore, and even though they were loudly called back again afterwards, it had really ended. This was an absolutely great show, proving that really a lot can be achieved with little means - as long as it is done well. HOCICO indeed proved that the headliner of the Out of Line Festival has been chosen properly.

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8.5
Sound: 8
Lights: 8.5
Total: 8.2